Falcons open season in New Orleans

The league announced the 2013 regular season schedule tonight. The Falcons will open their season on the road against division rival New Orleans Saints on September 8, the first Sunday in the season. The following week the Falcons will get their home opener against the St. Louis Rams on September 15. The schedule features five primetime matchups (tied for most in the league), beginning with a home game in Week 4 against the New England Patriots on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. They will then follow that up with a Monday Night Football matchup on ESPN the ensuing week with another home game against the New York Jets on October 7. The Falcons bye week will be the following week.

After the Saints, the Falcons next NFC South divisional opponent follows their bye week with a home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After that the Falcons begin an eight game series that will have the team at home for only three games. The Falcons next primetime game will come in Week 12 on October 21 at home on their Thursday Night game on NFL Network. The Falcons will go on the road to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 on December 8 on Sunday Night Football once more. The final primetime game will be against the team that ended the Falcons 2012 season in the NFC Championship. That game against the San Francisco 49ers will come in Week 16, December 23 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The Falcons will close out the regular season with a home game against the Carolina Panthers on December 29.

Five of the Falcons six divisional games will follow their Week 6 bye week. Four of the team’s first six games will be played at home in the Georgia Dome. The Falcons schedule also features two significant breaks. The first of which follows their Monday Night game against the Jets, due to the bye week, the Falcons next game won’t come until 13 days later. Following their Week 12 Thursday Nighter against the Saints, they will have the typical nine-day layoff until they go on the road against the Buffalo Bills. That game will be played in the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.